


Not Quite Shakespeare

by Taeyn



Series: not quite shakespeare [1]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Best Friends, Canon Compliant, Confessing Feelings, Demisexual Character, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hugs, Keeping warm, Kissing, Riverdale 1x06, Sharing Clothes, Storms, midnight visits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-10-01 14:49:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10192325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taeyn/pseuds/Taeyn
Summary: Jughead covered the length of the room in a few strides, sat down at the edge of her mattress.“I mean it, Betty. Chasing leads or chasing shadows, I’m with you all the way.”





	

Between the hours, in the moonlight, when it rained- that was when Betty felt like her bedroom was hers. She used to feel at home with white and pastel, flower prints and rosy curtains...

Now, as the slushy water dripped shadows down her wallpaper, she wondered if this wasn’t the room she was supposed to live in all along.

A room as dark as Polly’s.

Betty sat up, pressed the heels of her hands beneath both eyes.

_Not helping, not helping,_ she thought, the storm louder than her tears.

She imagined the shattered window, put it out of her mind. It was too late to douse the fire, her mother’s venom could wait too. Piece by piece, Betty stopped trying to catch the clues that were slipping through her fingers, let all the facts fall neatly to the floor. When she finally looked down, her heart had slowed with a strange, steadfast sort of calm. It was the feeling she got when she walked into a test, or a pep rally, that moment where all your preparation no longer matters.

If there was a way to fix this, she would find it. Because if anyone knew Polly- no, _really_ knew her, before school, Jason, before all the lies...

It was her.

Carefully, Betty reached to the bedside for her phone. Dropped it a second later when a loud bang echoed outside her window, and she saw a looming black shape, fogged at the edges. Her hands flew to her mouth, heart clawing at her throat.

“...Polly?” she whispered, a wild, choking relief spinning her head.

When a gloved hand smudged back the condensation on the glass, she felt the air escape her lungs in a sudden whoosh.

“...Jughead!”

Hurrying across the floorboards, Betty wrenched open the window and grabbed him with both arms. Jughead let himself be hauled inside, his clothes drenched and teeth chattering. The corner of his face gave a twitch. Or it might’ve been a smile.

“What are you _doing_ here? I was just about to text you!” Betty pulled him into a fierce hug before he could answer. Jughead hesitated, arms held awkwardly at his sides. His beanie had dragged askew over one eye, the other barely visible through rain-plastered hair.

“I _did_ text you,” he replied, tentatively patted her back. “Three times. Zero answers. Hence Operation Not-Quite-Shakespeare. I thought your parents might have you in lockdown or something.”

When Betty squeezed tighter, he gently closed his arms around her shoulders, held her while the curtains billowed out in the wind. The window was still open, glass rattling and droplets spat beneath the wooden frame.

“No, no, I’m okay,” she murmured, though what she wanted to say was ‘okay _now’_. Pulling back a fraction, she rubbed her hands up and down his sleeves, eyebrows quirking to astonishment.

“Jughead, you’re _soaked_.”

His mouth tugged with that odd smile again, more fond than teasing.

“Oh. Yeah. I… kind of thought we’d established that, before the whole end-of-the-world hugging moment.”

Betty breathed out a laugh, glanced at the footprints dampening her rug.

“Okay. I’m finding you something to change into.” She watched as a droplet of water trickled down the end of Jughead’s nose. His face crumpled as he tried to pinch it, shook his head as more droplets followed.

“Is that a good idea? If your parents find me up here? Not that _I_ care about that, but-”

She was already pulling an oversized sweater and a baggy pair of pajama pants from her closet. When she turned back he was staring, unreadable.

“-but I care about you? Not getting into trouble?”

The last part seemed hastily added, and he accepted the clothes when Betty offered them. Right now, _not getting into trouble_ seemed like a nice idea from before several lifetimes of trouble ago.

“Thanks,” Jughead mumbled, second-glancing the faded logo on her sweater.

_Riverdale drive in- movies beneath the stars_

“Wow, this is ancient,” he said, caught between bitter and sad.

“The films used to finish past my curfew,” Betty whispered. The memory made something pinch inside her chest. “So Polly bought these sweaters and put a picnic blanket in front of the tv for us instead.”

Jughead blinked, then nodded, just once. Sometimes, that was all you needed to say.

She turned around while he wrestled out of his jeans and jacket, found him a spare pillow and sat cross-legged on her bed.

“I should have tried to find her sooner,” Betty said quietly, tugged at the patchwork squares of her quilt. “This whole time, she thought Jason would one day come and rescue her.”

“Well, now you’re going to rescue her,” Jughead answered, firm enough that Betty glanced up in surprise. He may have been wearing several shades of mint green and baby pink, but his face was set with stern determination. “We are.”

Jughead covered the length of the room in a few strides, sat down at the edge of her mattress.

“I mean it, Betty. Chasing leads or chasing shadows, I’m with you all the way.”

Betty shuffled forward on her knees, took his hand in hers. His fingers were freezing, but he was no longer shivering at least.

“I care about you too, Juggie.”

A flinch passed through his jaw, something hurt rather than healed.

“I know you do,” he murmured eventually, barely audible above a crack of thunder.

“No-” Betty answered, stumbled on before she lost her nerve. “What I mean is, that’s why I needed to text you. To say that I care about you. A lot. Which is what I _should_ have said, after… oh my gosh, why are you giving me that look?”

Jughead, somber to the last, had slowly brimmed to a smile while she was talking, and was now clearly fighting hard to disguise it. He laughed when Betty shook his shoulders, pretended to look this way and that for her more tsundere friend.

“You were going to _text_ me that?” he said dryly, raised an eyebrow.

“It was too rainy for the carrier pigeons, Romeo,” she snorted, but her stomach felt light and fluttery all the same.

“Owl post. You need to switch providers,” Jughead grinned, wet curls falling over his face.

“Or,” said Betty, hoping against hope that it wasn’t too late, “I could just... do this.”

Tender, she reached a hand to his jaw, drew herself toward him as the storm rose up behind. She closed her eyes, lashes danced against his as he leaned into the kiss. His mouth was warm, teeth grazed her lower lip as he sucked a breath, tongue rough on the edge of hers. He moaned- or maybe that was her- pushed deeper as his hands brushed soft over her cheeks, caged into her hair.

“This…. yeah, this works,” Jughead whispered, muffled and trembling.

_I like you too,_ Betty wanted to murmur, curl up with him under the blanket. _I like you back._

“The moonlight!” she exclaimed, a sudden flicker of lightning accompanying the thought.

“...seriously?” Jughead said after a second, though he sounded more amused than anything. “Is this like, a tried and approved deduction technique now?”

“Oh, Juggie, I’m sorry,” Betty blurted, pressed her lips to his cheek. “It’s the sweater. The storm. _Movies beneath the stars._ ”

“I’m going to take a wild guess and say these aren’t suggestions for a first date?” Jughead laughed, but his eyes were gentle. “You think the drive-in has something to do with Jason’s death?”

“No,” said Betty, her voice quickly dropping, as if someone were right outside her door. “It’s Polly…”

When Jughead took her hand, Betty didn’t let go.

“I think I know where to find her.”

-

**Author's Note:**

> tysm for reading! c: comments and kudos are always adored and appreciated *^^* <3


End file.
